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Guest Column: QB Salaries, Reconsidered

Guest column by Richie Wohlers

Last week, at the Football Project website, Dan Lewis published an article proposing that teams might be better off spending less money on their quarterbacks. Rather than analyze the statistics for a comprehensive data sample, however, Lewis used a few examples of successful, inexpensive QBs to make his point. What if you looked at all the quarterbacks in the NFL for 2002? Would would the numbers say about expensive vs. inexpensive quarterbacks?

I decided to dig deeper, looking at the statistics for all quarterbacks during the the 2002 season in a few different ways. First, amongst all QBs who passed for at least 1000 yards in 2002, which ones gained the most yards per million dollars of salary? Marc Bulger was the best value, passing for 1,826 yards with a salary cap value of just $320,000. That worked out to 5,694 yards/$million. The worst bargain will come as no surprise: Kordell Stewart, gaining just 1,155 yards on almost $7 million salary (167 yards/$million). Five QBs passed for over 3,000 yards, while earning less than $2 million per year -- Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Trent Green, Aaron Brooks, Daunte Culpepper and Chad Pennington. Despite 4,200 passing yards, Peyton Manning finishes in 35th place. It's very tough to justify that $10+ million salary. Here's the whole list:

Player

Team

Cap Value

Pass Yards

Yds/Mil $

1

Bulger, Marc

Rams

$320,690

1826

5,694.0

2

Peete, Rodney

Panthers

$476,080

2630

5,524.3

3

Brees, Drew

Chargers

$710,740

3284

4,620.5

4

Blake, Jeff

Ravens

$451,350

2084

4,617.3

5

Maddox, Tommy

Steelers

$627,160

2836

4,522.0

6

Brady, Tom

Patriots

$1,091,613

3764

3,448.1

7

Green, Trent

Chiefs

$1,400,000

3690

2,635.7

8

Matthews, Shane

Redskins

$476,350

1251

2,626.2

9

Brooks, Aaron

Saints

$1,587,473

3572

2,250.1

10

Culpepper, Daunte

Vikings

$1,972,500

3853

1,953.4

11

Redman, Chris

Ravens

$533,240

1034

1,939.1

12

Martin, Jamie

Rams

$727,023

1216

1,672.6

13

Ramsey, Patrick

Redskins

$964,000

1539

1,596.5

14

Pennington, Chad

Jets

$1,964,407

3120

1,588.3

15

Hasselbeck, Matt

Seahawks

$2,003,960

3075

1,534.5

16

Garcia, Jeff

49ers

$2,209,523

3344

1,513.4

17

Miller, Jim

Bears

$1,300,000

1944

1,495.4

18

Carter, Quincy

Cowboys

$983,893

1465

1,489.0

19

Lucas, Ray

Dolphins

$791,666

1045

1,320.0

20

Kitna, Jon

Bengals

$2,501,260

3178

1,270.6

21

Gannon, Rich

Raiders

$3,714,285

4689

1,262.4

22

Fiedler, Jay

Dolphins

$1,716,629

2024

1,179.1

23

Vick, Michael

Falcons

$2,550,000

2936

1,151.4

24

Griese, Brian

Broncos

$2,845,040

3214

1,129.7

25

Harrington, Joey

Lions

$2,300,000

2294

997.4

26

Carr, David

Texans

$2,600,000

2592

996.9

27

Chandler, Chris

Bears

$1,169,456

1023

874.8

28

Bledsoe, Drew

Bills

$5,001,530

4359

871.5

29

McNair, Steve

Titans

$4,868,196

3387

695.7

30

Dilfer, Trent

Seahawks

$1,751,800

1182

674.7

31

Favre, Brett

Packers

$5,957,706

3658

614.0

32

Collins, Kerry

Giants

$7,383,600

4073

551.6

33

Couch, Tim

Browns

$6,063,800

2842

468.7

34

Johnson, Brad

Buccaneers

$6,803,150

3049

448.2

35

Manning, Peyton

Colts

$10,334,483

4200

406.4

36

McNabb, Donovan

Eagles

$5,754,938

2289

397.7

37

Warner, Kurt

Rams

$3,990,000

1431

358.6

38

Plummer, J ake

Cardinals

$8,679,899

2972

342.4

39

Brunell, Mark

Jaguars

$8,253,690

2788

337.8

40

Stewart, Kordell

Steelers

$6,922,880

1155

166.8

Another way to look at these numbers is to compare an entire team's success to the money they spend on all QBs. The Colts and Eagles are the only teams to spend over $10 million on QBs last season. Both teams won at least 10 games, but they both finished in the bottom eight of the NFL in wins per million dollars of QB salary. Philadelphia won 1.2 games per million QB dollars, and Indianapolis won 0.9 games/$million. Six teams won at least nine games while spending less than $5 million on the QB position -- NWE, NOR, SFO, MIA, ATL, and DEN -- but only two of those made the playoffs. Here's the full list:

Team

Total QB Salaries

Wins

Wins/$Million

1

Ravens

$1,275,766

7

5.5

2

Panthers

$1,598,790

7

4.4

3

Patriots

$2,129,713

9

4.2

4

Saints

$2,402,189

9

3.7

5

Cowboys

$1,362,493

5

3.7

6

Redskins

$1,992,060

7

3.5

7

49ers

$3,061,509

10

3.3

8

Dolphins

$2,808,295

9

3.2

9

Falcons

$3,190,960

9.5

3.0

10

Chiefs

$3,356,686

8

2.4

11

Raiders

$4,745,135

11

2.3

12

Titans

$5,248,236

11

2.1

13

Broncos

$4,465,346

9

2.0

14

Vikings

$2,990,063

6

2.0

15

Packers

$6,668,272

12

1.8

16

Chargers

$4,710,372

8

1.7

Team

Total QB Salaries

Wins

Wins/$Million

17

Seahawks

$4,179,289

7

1.7

18

Buccaneers

$8,009,270

12

1.5

19

Bears

$2,953,908

4

1.4

20

Rams

$5,288,595

7

1.3

21

Steelers

$8,000,040

10.5

1.3

22

Bills

$6,278,600

8

1.3

23

Browns

$7,127,490

9

1.3

24

Jets

$7,384,192

9

1.2

25

Eagles

$10,248,140

12

1.2

26

Giants

$8,602,239

10

1.2

27

Texans

$3,714,180

4

1.1

28

Colts

$10,886,283

10

0.9

29

Lions

$3,891,580

3

0.8

30

Jaguars

$9,034,690

6

0.7

31

Cardinals

$9,295,232

5

0.5

32

Bengals

$6,285,970

2

0.3

Eight of last year's playoff teams fall in the bottom half of this table. The conclusion here is that, although the wins/$million value is not great, spending money on quarterbacks works, as far as getting your team to the playoffs is concerned. SFO, OAK, ATL, and TEN were the four playoff teams to rank in the top half of wins/$million. I can't really pick out a common factor as to why they would rank up there. Perhaps they just aren't paying their quarterbacks what they are worth.

Ffinally, here are the rankings of total offensive yards per team, and how much they spent at QB:

Team

Total QB Salaries

Yards

Yards/$Million

1

Ravens

$1,275,766

4639

3636.2

2

Cowboys

$1,362,493

4375

3211.0

3

Panthers

$1,598,790

4280

2677.0

4

Redskins

$1,992,060

5143

2581.7

5

Patriots

$2,129,713

5085

2387.6

6

Saints

$2,402,189

5205

2166.8

7

Vikings

$2,990,063

6192

2070.9

8

Dolphins

$2,808,295

5392

1920.0

9

49ers

$3,061,509

5701

1862.2

10

Chiefs

$3,356,686

6000

1787.5

11

Falcons

$3,190,960

5534

1734.3

12

Bears

$2,953,908

4395

1487.9

13

Seahawks

$4,179,289

5818

1392.1

14

Broncos

$4,465,346

6090

1363.8

15

Raiders

$4,745,135

6237

1314.4

16

Lions

$3,891,580

4471

1148.9

Team

Total QB Salaries

Yards

Yards/$Million

17

$4,710,372

5325

1130.5

18

Rams

$5,288,595

5559

1051.1

19

Titans

$5,248,236

5272

1004.5

20

Texans

$3,714,180

3572

961.7

21

Bills

$6,278,600

5591

890.5

22

Packers

$6,668,272

5560

833.8

23

Bengals

$6,285,970

5206

828.2

24

Steelers

$8,000,040

5952

744.0

25

Browns

$7,127,490

5027

705.3

26

Jets

$7,384,192

5036

682.0

27

Giants

$8,602,239

5826

677.3

28

Buccaneers

$8,009,270

5002

624.5

29

Eagles

$10,248,140

5604

546.8

30

Jaguars

$9,034,690

4851

536.9

31

Colts

$10,886,283

5616

515.9

32

Cardinals

$9,295,232

4563

490.9

Comments? Make them in our discussion thread, or contact Richie at richiewohlers @ hotmail.com. If you are interested in writing a guest column, something that takes a new angle on the NFL, please email us your idea at info @ footballoutsiders.com.